In my classroom, I want my students to not only learn the content I teach but also important values and life lessons that will help shape them as individuals. Both in middle school and high school, students are maturing and discovering themselves through social interactions with both their classmates and teachers. Students often remember their favorite teacher as one that not only made an impact on their education, but one that really made an impact on themselves as a person. This is why it will perhaps be the most important aspect of my classroom as I aim to not only educate students to become conceptual scientists, but also teaching them important values. I hope to acheive this by creating personal connections with each one of my students, whether it be through sports they may play or watch, activities they may take part in, or even just what they may have seen on television. Through these personal interactions, students will feel more comfortable with me and will also be more likely to contribute in class. I've found in my short time student teaching, although not every student is the same most students have responded to these personal connections by participating more in class which has resulted in an increase in their grade. Although improvement has been seen in my classes with these students, unfortunately the same thing can't be said for all of their classes. Forming these personal relationships over an extended period of time, I'm hopeful I may be able to influence a better work ethic not only in my class but across all curriculums. As stated before, my first and foremost goal as a teacher is to not only teach my students to become conceptual and inquisitive scientists, but to also become better prepared for life outside of school as well.
As a teacher, I will never forget that teaching is entirely about the students. It’s important to teach in a way that captivates the minds of students and motivates them to succeed at their absolute highest potential. I hope to achieve this by providing students with a variety of teaching styles and assessments that helps touch on every students learning style. I feel like students learn best through discovery learning, especially in science where a variety of experiments can be conduct to aid the learning of crucial concepts. Not all students learn this way however, and a structured lesson will also be a vital part of the classroom to help solidify these concepts. After student teaching for a very short period of time, I realized that this structured lesson part is much better suited through a powerpoint. Through powerpoints I can present the material in a way that asks questions throughout the lecture, allowing students to input their own ideas into the material we're learning. This method is also useful because I can not only include pictures and diagrams that correspond with the material, but but also allows me to quiz students in the middle of the lesson and refreshes what was already covered to make sure students understand a concept before we move on.
Lastly, as a teacher, I will always be a lifelong learner. As a biologist, it’s important to seek out new articles and experiments that can be used in my classroom to help captivate the interests of my students. Especially with the increasing technology in our schools there's a variety of activities and labs available online that teachers have chosen to share with others. I've found that it's not only is it useful to learn from other teachers, but to also learn from your students as well. Knowing that different students crave different approaches and ways of acheiving the same problem, as a teacher it's important to reflect on what approaches worked and what approaches may want to be revised or discarded. Using different styles of learning I can reflect on what worked, what didn’t work and what improvements I will need to make to make.
As a teacher, I will never forget that teaching is entirely about the students. It’s important to teach in a way that captivates the minds of students and motivates them to succeed at their absolute highest potential. I hope to achieve this by providing students with a variety of teaching styles and assessments that helps touch on every students learning style. I feel like students learn best through discovery learning, especially in science where a variety of experiments can be conduct to aid the learning of crucial concepts. Not all students learn this way however, and a structured lesson will also be a vital part of the classroom to help solidify these concepts. After student teaching for a very short period of time, I realized that this structured lesson part is much better suited through a powerpoint. Through powerpoints I can present the material in a way that asks questions throughout the lecture, allowing students to input their own ideas into the material we're learning. This method is also useful because I can not only include pictures and diagrams that correspond with the material, but but also allows me to quiz students in the middle of the lesson and refreshes what was already covered to make sure students understand a concept before we move on.
Lastly, as a teacher, I will always be a lifelong learner. As a biologist, it’s important to seek out new articles and experiments that can be used in my classroom to help captivate the interests of my students. Especially with the increasing technology in our schools there's a variety of activities and labs available online that teachers have chosen to share with others. I've found that it's not only is it useful to learn from other teachers, but to also learn from your students as well. Knowing that different students crave different approaches and ways of acheiving the same problem, as a teacher it's important to reflect on what approaches worked and what approaches may want to be revised or discarded. Using different styles of learning I can reflect on what worked, what didn’t work and what improvements I will need to make to make.